Thursday, January 3, 2013

A journalist recently wrote a long, three-part essay about her experience with her 23-week preemie. Better than anything else that I have read, it captures the small details and the emotional roller coaster of life in the NICU. I highly recommend that you read it. The main page to "Never Let Go" by Kelley Benham of the Tampa Bay Times also includes photos, video, and two well done info-graphics (1, 2). You can jump straight to the essay here (1, 2, 3).

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

We have been busy with the holidays, with the gift drive, and with preparing for Loki's transition to school, and thus are behind with blogging. I intend to catch up. First, photos from the last three months (and even earlier, in some cases).

Our favorite, Loki running at his daycare:

We actually celebrated Loki's birthday four times: in Indiana, with just our core family, with lots of neighbor kids (and more), and at his daycare. Here he waits for his big gift to be uncovered:

He sees his big gift (a Playmobil house):

We all celebrated Loki's fourth birthday in October. Here is a candle tray:

With kids:

In the Netherlands, the birthday person gives gifts to colleagues. Mom made these for the kids at Loki's daycare:

A Dutch holiday is St. Nicholas Day. The Dutch St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, is (most of) the origin of America's Santa Claus, and is the main gift-giving day here:

Although most Dutch give gifts only on Sinterklaas, as Americans we also give gifts on Christmas. Lucky Loki! He loves his educational white board from Nana and Papaw. If you look closely you can see that he wrote his name, although the K is tough:

And real American Tinkertoys from us:

Mom had the great idea of a portable CD player and a couple CDs with stories. He loves listening to them:

Loki has lots of fun at his daycare. Here he listens to the music therapist:

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Yesterday, the local ambassador of the Loki Sky and His NICU Friends Holiday Fund--and mother of post-preemie Anna--handed over a check for $2400 to the Alta Bates Summit NICU. Made possible by many of you, this money will help families who face economic challenges while having a new baby in the NICU. In its four years, our fund has now raised over $10,000! We all thank you very very much for making this possible! Happy new year!

About Loki Sky

Loki Sky is a special little man. He was a very early micropreemie, weighing only 610 grams (1 lb, 5 oz) after 24 weeks, 3 days gestation, born to an American Father and a Dutch Mother in Berkeley, California on October 18, 2008.

On January 11, 2009, while still in the hospital NICU, his one kidney stopped working. It was repaired after three surgeries. After spending time in three hospitals in three cities, Loki came home on February 17. He struggled with eating, and then stopped in July, leading to 8 days in the hospital, a failure-to-thrive diagnosis, and a NG feeding tube. On October 10, a minor surgery installed a G feeding tube. Another procedure replaced it with a new one, and then again with a Mic-Key button in Jan. 2010.